PESHAWAR: Children face increasing risk of developing anxiety, depression and acute reactions leading to post-traumatic stress disorder due to the impact of the recent floods on their parents in the worst-hit areas, according to experts.

Psychiatrists said that launching a first aid emergency by the government was need of the hour to prevent mental illnesses among children in the flood-affected areas. They added that the people experiencing a life threatening emergency due to floods were not able to look after their children the way they did in normal circumstances.

Dr Imran Khan, the chairman of psychiatry ward at Khyber Teaching Hospital, said that children risked mental issues because their parents, who usually looked them after, were misplaced and faced plethora of issues like diseases and lack of food and clean drinking water.

He said that children were impacted due to sufferings of their parents and guardians. “Even for the children, who are not in immediate danger but are unable to go home, attend school or have lost their pets and toys, the situation can be incredibly stressful. This is especially true when children can’t get the help they need from their worried family members and caregivers,” he said.

Psychiatrists urge govt to launch first aid emergency for affected people

Citing reported statistics, Dr Imran said that the floods affected 6 million children and 2.7 million of them were in need of immediate and lifesaving help to safeguard them against diseases such as dysentery, acute watery diarrhoea, skin infections and malnourishment.

He said that people in the worst-hit districts underwent increasing worries in addition to escalation in dengue fever, especially in the areas where pools of stagnant water were still existent. He said that flood-stricken population feared cholera. He said that all such threats added to their miseries.

“Disasters are always coupled with psychosocial reactions. Research indicates that natural disasters have an immense impact on the psychological health of children including symptoms of fear, depression, self-blame, guilt, loss of interest in school and other activities,” he said.

Dr Imran said that regressive behaviour, sleep and appetite disturbance, night terrors, aggressiveness, poor concentration and separation anxiety were found in children in the aftermath of natural calamities.

He said that psychological distress from a disaster was particularly harder on children because they understood less about the situation, felt less able to control events and had less experience to cope with difficult situations.

Prof Bashir Ahmed at the same hospital said that the recent downpours resulted in floods all over Pakistan that caused damage to homes, infrastructure and livelihood and were most likely to develop mental health problems among the affected people.

“Many people have lost their homes, businesses, farms, cattle and their dear ones. They are in a state of grief and disbelief. Hundreds of thousands of homeless people are left with no proper shelter, food or clothes. They are at risk of developing various physical and psychological health problems,” he said.

Prof Bashir said that in any kind of natural disaster, short time psychological distress was expected among affected people. He said that most of the people might recover from stress reaction but mental health problems could persist among a significant minority. He added that the risk of experiencing grief reaction, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression were common among the flood-hit people.

“In this time of calamity, we not only need proper shelter, food and clothes for them but also emergency first aid both for physical health problems as well as mental health problems,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2022